There’s a saying in the freelance world: “the cheaper the client, the more problems you will have.” That is so true when you deal with content mill clients.
I’ve done more work for a $20 piece than I have for a client paying $200. Content mills cater to these cheap asses. They promise them the world for a low price. When the product isn’t up to their outrageous standards, they will bitch and moan.
It’s not even a question of turning in poor work, but rather, their demands are asinine. There’s plenty of articles floating around wanting “10 high-quality sources” with 5 pictures for a 300-word blog about cat food. My favorite is the ones that want 20 keywords stuffed into the blog, but make it sound natural. Yeah, because “auto parts Tampa” flows right off the tongue.
One client wanted me to write an 800-word piece about business law attorneys. No problem there, I can write that with my eyes closed. Well, that wasn’t enough for this guy. He wanted me to use words with less than three syllables and only 20 syllables per sentence. So “intellectual,” as in intellectual property, was out of the question. Plus, I had to score an A+ in his reading program. I send it off, it scores an A+, and everything is good. I get a note from him, after he accepted the article by the way, that it was too choppy with short sentences.
Another gem was a client who needed an 1100 word article proofread and edited to 500 words. No problem! I send it in and get it with “half the article is gone.” I’m no math major, but an 1100 word article edited to 500 will take out half your original work. If you didn’t want half the article gone, don’t put a 500 limit on your words. It’s basic math, asshole!
Content mills are filled with these jerks. You can expect to deal with headache clients when you work there. Not to say every client is an ass. I’ve had nice clients too, but they a far and few in-between. But the majority of content mill buyers are non-English speakers who think writing is so easy and “why yu no write prefect engrish?” Seriously, I saw that comment one time.
There are a few things you can do to save your sanity:
#1: Check out any potential client’s ratings and revision rates.
This may save you in the long run. Yes, there are some diamonds in the rough, but anyone over a 25% revision rate is a no-go for me. I once saw a 900% revision rate. I wanted to know the story about that, but no way I was taking work from that dumpster fire. If you accept work from someone like that and have problems, you have no one to blame but yourself.
#2: Avoid insulting instructions
If the client is acting like an almighty asshole in the instructions, how is it going to be when you turn in work? First impressions mean everything…even when they are written out. Don’t accept work from jerks. People who threaten your potential work need to be avoided.
#3: Don’t work for free
There are some sneaky bastards that want work for free. Some people refer to them as “Blackhatters.” They will try to convince you to work for less pay with the promise of more work. Even sneakier, some will want you to an “evaluation” piece, so they can get a “feel” for your work. You see this more in content mills where you write a piece and hope it sells (BlogMutt, Constant Content, Contentgather). The next thing you know, your work is on some website and you never got paid. Whomp, whomp, waaah!
Some of your success is being picky about clients. While you want to write for those high paying 5,000-word pieces, you need to keep in mind the client’s ratings and reviews. Your money isn’t guaranteed until the client accepts your work. So the more revisions or rejections means lost time and money for you. Choose your clients carefully.
